a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

What the Jazz are (were) missing

Watching this video of Jerry Stackhouse punching Horny, I was reminded of what the Jazz have been missing for several years now: toughness, and that guy. You know, that guy that has his teammates’ backs, even if he is the smallest guy on the floor. You can see it on the second replay around the 1:38 mark: When Stackhouse goes after Horny, [Stackhouse’s teammate] Greg Sutton just stands there watching the fight unfold. In contrast, Stock is in there the moment he catches sight of what’s going on. Jerry also comes charging over, head down like an enraged bull. I wonder whether Jerry’s first instinct was to stop the fight, or kill Stackhouse.

I loved how Horny’s only reaction was amusement at Stackhouse’s p***yness (there are better words I could use, but none come to mind at this exact moment). Horny might have looked like the harmless guy next door in suburbia, but he was smart and wily, and he was tough.

Jerry said it during the 2009 Playoffs: “We’re not a nasty team.” Enter Raja Bell. The thought of Raja’s attitude and nastiness rubbing off on the young Jazz kids fills me with Christmas Eve-esque excitement.

Finally…Hornacek got ejected? Wow. The referees in 1996 were just as great at their jobs as they are today.

Other randomness…check out Phil’s hair:

Also, I really want to know what John Lucas’ tie looked like in color: